MajorHinduTemple festival season in Kerala begins by January mid-week and ends in April. And this is the cruelest and toughest period for the living representatives of Lord Ganesha, one of the most popular deities in Hindu pantheon. More than 400 captured elephants in Kerala that are trained to perform duties during temple festivities are paraded in the numerous temples in the scorching sun during this period. Interestingly, it is not written in Hindu scriptures that elephants should be part of temple festivals. In fact Ganesha symbolizes that man and animals (all animate and inanimate) are nothing but Brahman – the Supreme Being.
Caparisoned elephants are paraded to satisfy the egos of the temple committee members and to gain superiority over the temple in the next village or town. Thanks to the tourist promotion campaign ran by the Government of Kerala, caparisoned elephants are one of the biggest attractions in the state.
Elephants killing people during temple festivals is now a…

The Sun rises and sets. Day passes into night and night into day. But what is really happening is they are taking away our lives. But we are not even aware of the passage of time. Such is our deep involvement in the weight of our businesses. We do not get a jolt of fear even after watching, almost daily, the inescapable sequence of birth, old age, adversity, misfortune, disaster, failure and final death. We are just over drunk with the delusion of attachment which is our own making.
It is therefore necessary to work for the spiritual elevation well before the body gets weak and unhealthy, well before old age overtakes us, well before the limbs lose their power, well before one’s life is exhausted.
To wait and postpone spiritual activity until old age is like starting to dig a well for water when the house has already begun to burn.